Christian Colleges Top 'Stone-Cold Sober Schools' List

Students nationwide rated their schools for this year's best colleges and Christian institutions took top spots as prayer-filled and "Stone-Cold Sober Schools."

While the Texas Longhorns was ranked the country's top party school with lots of beer and lots of hard liquor, Wheaton College in Illinois and College of the Ozarks in Missouri placed in the top five as "stone-cold sober schools," clean of the beer and drugs that many Christian leaders say are now common on the college campus.

The lists are part of Princeton Review's 2007 edition of "The Best 361 Colleges: The Smart Student's Guide to Colleges" with rankings in more than 60 categories. Wheaton College also placed high in the "Best Quality of Life," "Best Campus Food," and "Town-Gown Relations Are Great" lists.

While prayer prevails throughout the aforementioned Christian colleges, the annual guide also ranked colleges where "students ignore God on a regular basis."

Reed College in Portland, Ore., topped the list as the most unreligious school.

Christian leaders have expressed concern over students leaving the nest for a campus that now has more dangers than before and where many end up leaving their faith. David Wheaton, author of University of Destruction had labeled secular college campuses as "the most radical aspect of society" with sex, drugs, alcohol and humanism rampant in the independent student spheres.

Nevertheless, the unreligious aspect of such colleges as Reed has not taken away from a good academic experience. According to the Princeton Review report, Reed was within the top five colleges where "students never stop studying" and that provides the "best overall academic experience for undergraduates."

On an academic rating, the University of Chicago provides the best overall academic experience for undergraduates, followed by Stanford University, Rice University and Columbia University.

Robert Franek, author of the Princeton report, said the lists are simply meant to provide more information for high school students, according to the Associated Press.

"But the real challenge for applicants and parents is finding the college that's best for them," he said in a released statement. "That's why our profiles and unique ranking lists report in depth what the colleges' customers  the students themselves  tell us about their schools and their experiences at them.

It's simply finding that community both inside and outside of the classroom that I think is the challenge for many students."

The survey is based on ratings from 115,000 students at 361 top colleges who were asked 80 questions about their school's academics and administration, campus life, student body, and themselves. Ninety-three percent of the surveys were done online and seven percent on paper.